Love And Shit
by PheonixVanGarrett
Summary: The Oodie Brothers take a job from two sisters. When the job turns out to be more difficult than expected, the five of them team up to take care of business, cause trouble, and protect the ones they love. In the process they find the family they've been missing and the family that's always been there. Brick/OC. McQueen/OC. Events loosely follow movie and then some.
1. Intro

Intro

Hayden paced a circle in the living room and periodically checked out the front window at the crime scene as Jenny sat on the couch, watching her older sister. "You think these guys can do it?" She asked.

Hayden stopped pacing, tapped her foot anxiously and nibbled her fingernails. "From what we saw earlier, it looks like they're our best choice." The shooting across the street demonstrated all the Riley sisters needed to see. Three men go in, shoot up the whole house, and the same three men come out unharmed, and get clean away. Looking out the window, the police had done nothing but guard off the place. They were standing there, content, like flies on old food. Alabama police weren't known for their motivation. They practically created the stereotype of lazy police. The Riley sisters didn't go to the police about their problems. With their situation, it wouldn't have made a difference. They needed something more unofficial to get the job done with no loose ends. That was a guarantee that the cops could not give them.

Jenny nodded and put her elbows on her knees, considering the risks. "How do we find them?" She agreed.

Hayden sighed, finally settling against the wall. "We don't even know who they are. And it doesn't look like anyone else here wants to talk, if they even know anything."

"Well, I know they're local. I've seen at least one of them before. I mean, it was a long time ago so he looks a little different, but I know they're from around here." She restated, confidently.

"So what are we gonna do? Just sit here and wait for them to maybe drive by?" She laughed with a slight hint of frustration.

Jenny rolled her eyes at her sister. "No, well sort of. We could go into town and wait in front of the liquor store." She suggested, knowing that her sister wouldn't like that idea.

"The liquor store." Hayden doubted.

"You're telling me that you suddenly don't believe in stereotyping? Come on, you saw them. If we see them anywhere, it'll probably be there."

She laughed. "Okay, fine. So our plan is still sitting and waiting?" She asked, displeased.

"You got a better idea?"

Hayden scoffed. She couldn't believe that this was their best idea and their best shot to get their brother back. "Our chances are so slim."  
Jenny shrugged. There wasn't much else they could do. But they knew, whatever they did, they needed to go now. The sooner they found them, the more chance they had at rescuing their brother. Every minute not doing something about it was a minute lost. They had already wasted enough time deciding if those guys were the right choice.

Hayden grabbed the keys and the two of them did a final search of the house for anything they might need in the next few days. It wasn't much. Most of their things were still packed in the car. So the two girls quietly left their temporary home and drove south into town.


	2. Chapter 1

1

They had parked their mustang on the corner of the street between the liquor store and a KFC. There were only two or three cars in each parking lot. No one was on the streets and no one was driving by. The town was barren, almost as if it were a ghost town. Hayden assumed that news traveled fast and that everyone knew to stay inside after that morning's ordeal. She sighed loudly to express her doubt of Jenny's plan. "There's no one here."

She rolled her eyes and continued to look for signs. "Way to stay positive."

"I tell you what," Hayden continued to sigh, "if this plan actually works, I'll let you start calling the shots." She said condescendingly. Jenny slapped her on the arm. "Sorry. Geez."

"No, dumbass." She nodded out the window at a man coming out of the liquor store with a full bag of bottles in his arm. "It's him."

"Wow. Why the fuck would he be out in the open after that whole thing?" She asked watching in disbelief.

"Apparently he wanted booze." Jenny shrugged as she scrambled to get out of the car.

"What are you doing? We can follow him."

"I'm going to find out who he is. I'll only take a second."

Hayden opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late. Jenny had already shut the door and was walking across the street. She switched her focus back to the man who got in his car and revved up his engine. It was amazing how much attention he should have been attracting right now, yet there was still nothing. He took his sweet time before backing out his rusty, old, hardly-classic car.

Meanwhile inside the store, Jenny was pestering the clerk for any information at all. But he wasn't having it.

"Who was that guy that just came in here?" She asked urgently.

"Who?" He said with a blankly bored expression on his face.

She was slightly taken aback by this question. She figured it was obvious. "Blonde hair, in a tank, with booze, just now." She said, pointing her thumb out the door and tilting her head in annoyance.

He shook his head.

Jenny took in a breath, finally realizing that he knew but wasn't going to talk. "Just a name." She bargained.

"If you're not a paying customer I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." He said, still not really caring.

She stared at him for a second and turned on her heel, grabbed a cheap bottle of Jose Cuervo and put it on the counter along with a fifty dollar bill, which was much more than needed for the alcohol. She forced a smile at him.

When Jenny got back to the car, Hayden had the engine already ready to go and they took off in the direction that the man went. "Oodie." She said as she shut the car door behind her.

Hayden waited for more explanation. "What is Oodie?"

"That's his name."

"His name is Oodie?"

"Well, I don't know if it's his first or his last name but it's a name. And the guy at the counter told me he was going home. So…" She motioned to the road.

Hayden groaned. "I don't like your way of doing things. You're so impulsive."

"I know. You'll get over it." She smiled, tauntingly. "But hey, at least now we know where we're going and who we're going after."

"Yeah, yeah." Hayden said, brushing off the fact that her sister was right.

The girls followed a good distance behind him, just close enough to see the car up ahead. "Jesus, he drives like a maniac." Hayden announced, struggling to follow his tracks. She felt like they were trying to escape the cops at the speed she had to go just to not lose him. They drove for about twenty more minutes, which led them just outside of town, before he slowed down and suddenly turned off into a small dirt driveway surrounded by tall trees.

Hayden and Jenny pulled off to the side of the road before getting too close to the wall of trees. Hayden parked but left the car in idle and turned to her sister. "When we get up there, I want you to stay in the car until I know it's safe. We can't afford to be reckless." She looked at her sister with a deep, caring, concern. What she meant was that they couldn't afford Jenny doing anything reckless. Generally, Jenny was a shy, timid, and quiet girl, but her impulses, to an exaggeration, made her something of a ticking time bomb. There was only a small chance that something would affect her in this situation enough to cause an issue, but it was just a risk that they couldn't take. And Jenny knew this. She smiled sheepishly in acceptance and understanding.

They waited just long enough for Hayden to gather herself in preparation before continuing. This was possibly their last shot at taking Rob back. And she couldn't mess this up.

They carefully drove onto the dirt road that led a path between a maze of trees and eventually to a small run-down house. She turned off the car and suddenly felt the gravity of the situation they were in. They were asking help from three men that murdered a whole household just this morning. She couldn't believe that it had gotten out of hand to this extremity. She was really at the level of attempting to hire flat out murders. Sure, the household that got ripped out wasn't exactly full of saints and the two of them weren't exactly saints themselves. But murder is murder isn't it? Bringing herself back to reality, she reminded herself that they had no other choice. They were desperate.

The car that they followed had disappeared and it looked as though no one was home. She glanced around as she walked up to the door and knocked. No one answered. She knew someone was there. Despite the car disappearing, she knew they followed someone here. She carefully leaned over and tried to look into the front window.

"Can I help you?" A voice suddenly announced lazily with a thick accent.

Quickly, she spun around in surprise, almost tripping over a loose plank on the porch. "Shit." She said catching her breath. "Sorry, you scared me."

"That's what I do." He said casually, leaning against the side of the house, holding a rifle against his shoulder. This man was tall and strong, but not overwhelmingly so. He had tight, curly brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail with loose strands that hung in his face. He didn't care to shave and dirt was stained to his tanned skin. He wore torn jeans and a thin tank with a confederate flag on the front of it that clung to his torso accentuating his muscles. Hayden couldn't help but notice. Despite his rough presence and demeanor, he had honey brown eyes that were soft and kind. She could tell that his portrayal of intimidation was exactly that; just a portrayal and a mask. He was very good at it though.

"I'm Hayden. I was hoping to talk to you and your friends." She said somewhat meekly.

"I ain't got no friends. I got my brothers." He corrected. "I got my house, car." He looked her over and stepped a bit closer, putting his free hand in his pocket. "I got this sexy little thing standing in front of me. But I ain't got no friends." He stared directly into her eyes as a challenge. "You gonna be my friend?" He smirked and continued to glance over her body.

Hayden was accustom to these types of glances. She was averagely tall and had long brown hair that hung loosely down to the center of her back. Due to the habit of putting her hair up and down, a hair tie was always on her wrist. She wore a black spaghetti strapped shirt that showed just a small amount of cleavage, enough for the imagination to slip, along with tight jeans and brown, heeled, short boots. Her green eyes were piercingly bright as she stared back at him. "I saw you this morning." She said trying to get back to business. "We were hoping to acquire your services." She said motioning to her sister in the car.

He looked over and shook his head, avoiding eye contact in an attempt at playing dumb. "You got the wrong fellas." He said looking back to her. "We'z at church this morning." He added with a smirk.

"Really."

"Yeah." He retorted, almost as quickly as she had.

Hayden was becoming irritated with his attitude. "So it was just three other boys that look exactly like you that ripped up the whole house on Bacon street?" The playfulness in his expression slowly began to fade. "I'm just trying to figure out how you guys walked out of there with all those witnesses and every cop in the state isn't lined up at your door." She interrogated.

He smirked and scoffed a little chuckle, amused at the fact that she was so ballsy and blunt. He walked over to the porch and sat down with a grunt as he tucked a piece of hair behind his ear. "So what's a pretty little girl like you doing in a neighborhood like that?" He asked, turning his attention to the gun in his lap.

"We were looking to hire muscle, but since you…"

"Hire 'em to do what?" He interrupted, putting down the gun and taking out a cigarette.

She let out a breath before the big reveal. "Get our brother back from our stepdad."

Just then, the man that they had followed opened the door, smiled at her, and leaned against the frame. "Dibs." The man on the porch muttered as he hit the guy in the balls and handed him the rifle.

He cringed and grunted in pain, taking the rifle, and then grunted in disappointment when he realized what his brother said. "Damn." He said in an even thicker accent than his brother's as he walked back into the house, muttering more complaints and calling him a "cock-blocking-motherfucker", shutting the door behind him.

The man waited to know his brother was gone and scratched his nose in confusion. "Lady, I'm not sure what you think you're doing," He stuttered, "Um, that's not exactly our line of expertise." He said, amused.

"I got money."

"How much?"

"Ten thousand."

He chuckled as he blew smoke out of his mouth. "Yeah." He elongated. "I don't think saving peoples really for us, you know. Why don't you take that shit to the cops? They'll do it for free." He suggested.

"Twenty-five thousand."

His attention was peaked slightly.

"Five thousand up front." She added, tossing him the money.

He caught it and hesitantly decided to flip through it to check if she was serious. He looked up and then continued to fondle the money. Seeming to have come to a conclusion, he stood up and took a few steps towards her. He looked her over once more and then glanced to Jenny. "Why's she in the car?"

Hayden looked to her sister and back to him as she thought of what to say. "Your brothers younger than you?" She asked simply.

He nodded slightly, accepting and understanding the meaning of her response, blew out his last breath of smoke and flicked the cigarette. "Come on inside and meet the boys."

Hayden motioned for Jenny to come out of the car and follow them. Quickly, Jenny scrambled to catch up to them, almost tripping over herself in the process.

As they passed through the hallway, he slapped his brother, who was holding a box of KFC chicken, over the head and waved him to go to the other room with them. He recovered quickly from the slap when Jenny walked by. The first thing he saw was cleavage. You couldn't blame him completely. The hallway was small and his head was already down. So the angle provided a perfect view. He took in a breath and widened his eyes for a moment, pleasantly surprised, and watched the sway of her skirt while she continued to walk by him and into the next room. "Dibs." He said breathlessly to himself, enjoying the view. He honestly tried to look elsewhere, but he couldn't help himself to look away.

He quickly rushed passed them jumping over the arm of the couch, landing comfortably with one bare foot on the coffee table and the other on top of the extremely large man on the other cushion, and began flossing his teeth.

"Alright dipshits, listen up." The older brother announced. "Uh, this is Hayden and her sister and they'd like to give us an ass-load of money to kidnap their brother back from their dead-beat-stepdad." He turned to the two of them. "That about cover it?"

"I guess so." Hayden agreed.

"Well, okay." The brother flossing his teeth chimed in. "Let me just get my missing persons report here and I'll get you right set up." He said with a giggle to the other man on the couch and turned his head back to them. "You outta your damn mind brother?"

"Big fella over there, that's Lincoln." The man continued, ignoring his brother's statement. "The mouthy little faggot here is McQueen." McQueen licked his teeth and smiled in response. "And I'm Brick."

"Did you happen to mention that kidnapping ain't exactly what we do?" McQueen continued to pester.

"We were there this morning." Hayden said, trying to get him to quit his bullshit.

He stared at his brothers, then leaned up on the arm of the couch to face the two girls and smirked a little. "You was at church?" He teased, looking at the both of them.

"When we saw you guys take out that whole house and walk out without a scratch, we knew we found our guys." Hayden continued.

McQueen awkwardly turned away after she said that.

The large man, Lincoln, started to type on the little machine that was hanging down around his neck. "Bull. Shit. What. The. Catch." A mechanical voice said.

"Yeah, why didn't you just go to the cops with it?" McQueen asked.

The girls looked to Brick, confused. "His voice box was crushed when he was a kid. He can't talk." He clarified. "Cause I told 'em we'd do it." He said, answering for them.

"Now why would he go and do a dumb thing like that?" McQueen asked Lincoln.

Lincoln circled his finger around his temple in response.

"Cause you guys are our only shot." Jenny finally spoke.

McQueen turned back to her with yet another smirk and was about to say something.

"Look," Hayden said quickly, "we just wanna get Rob and take him away from all this shit and that window closes Tuesday night."  
He glanced over to her. "Do we look like a Fed-ex to you sweetheart?"

"Shut up." Brick told him quietly, embarrassed.

"You shut up."

"Shut up."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

"No, you shut up. I'm talking to the lady, man!"

The bickering continued so Jenny interrupted. "Look, we just want peace of mind and that's something the cops can't give us."

McQueen hopped himself up to face her and give her his full attention. Smirking, he looked her over once again and said, "And you think we can provide that?" He said, while Lincoln swatted at his feet that were dangling over him. McQueen's eyes we comfortably fixed on her, in turn making her a little uncomfortable. She just now really noticed him. Shaggy strands of dirty blonde hair hung in his face and he had an unkempt, growing beard to match. A long chain with a cross on the end hung from his neck and tapped against his bare chest when he moved. He was uncomfortably well built with broad shoulders and round biceps. And his skin, just like Brick's, was tan and stained with dirt. Instead of a honey brown like his brother's eyes, his were misty blue-green. The contrast of his rough, dirty, overall appearance and the striking, icy intensity of his eyes almost caused her to forget to breathe. She attempted to recompose herself.

"Yeah." She said with an attitude and successfully acting normal. "If he's arrested he'll just get out in eighteen months and hunt us down."

"This ain't Oodie Brothers Incorporated." He sassed back.

She raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"It is now." Brick said. "They just gave us twenty-five thousand reasons to open up shop." He whistled to get McQueen's attention and tossed him the wad of money. "Five up front." McQueen sat on the top of the couch and began counting the money. "This is what we been waiting for." He said, quietly walking up to them to make the conversation slightly more private. "The chance."

"Okay." McQueen said, nodding finally in agreement. "Okay, ladies. We'll take the money." He said handing it to Lincoln and taking it away before he could grab it, then shoved it in his pants and leaned back to the girls. "We'll even get the kid back. But if this man, this uh…"

"Carlos." Hayden filled in.

"If he's as crazy as you say he is why didn't he just kill you in the first place?"

"Tried." Jenny said. Both girls lifted their shirts a little revealing three bullet wounds just above Jenny's right hip, and a stab wound below the center of Hayden's ribs.

"So when you leave it'd be great if Lincoln could put a boot through his skull."

McQueen and Lincoln leaned back, impressed by their battle scars. "You ladies have any other questions?" Brick asked to his brothers. Lincoln shook his head with a content smile on his face.

"I do." McQueen said, hopping off top of the couch and leaning once again towards Jenny. "What's your name?" He asked slyly pointing to her.

"Jenny."

A wide smile started to grow on his face and he chuckled, lounging back on the couch. "You gonna start telling me about chocolates and shit?"

She rolled her eyes and prepared herself for many more jokes to come.

Lincoln was grinning with an expression that explained that he was expecting McQueen to say something like that. Brick tried not to laugh, but a few puffs of air burst out. "Stop that." He said quietly in a laugh to McQueen, still trying to make an impression that wasn't completely horrible.

"If you're going to keep making jokes about my name, at least get the reference right." She teased.

"Ooh." He yelped, leaning back and looking around to the guys in amusement, and then looking back to her. "This sexy lady's got a damn mouth on her." He said, still amazed with her comeback.

"Look at that, something you got in common." Brick said, unenthusiastically. "Now, what do we need to know for this job? Where's the asshole live?" He asked to Hayden.

"Just outside of Newton, Mississippi."

"Well now that ain't too bad." McQueen said, positively.

"You got an address so we can get going on this shit?" Brick impatiently asked.

"280 Maple Street."

"Alright, let me get down your number and we'll call you when the job's done."

While Brick and Hayden exchanged phone numbers, McQueen continued to smirk at Jenny and make attempts to get her attention, tilting his head to get more in her line of vision. She tried to ignore him, but she could tell he had practice drawing attention to himself. She glanced over to see him eyeing her just like before and looked away trying not to smile. She was flattered by the effort he was making. He looked back to see if Lincoln was getting as much entertainment out of it as he was and continued to keeping her focus.

"And here's my number, so you know who's gonna be calling." Brick finished.

"So what? Now we just wait for a call?" Hayden asked, unsure of this plan and followed Brick to the front door. He shrugged, not really caring. "Thanks." She said, sarcastically.

He chuckled and then became somewhat serious. "We'll get him back for you."

She smiled lightly in genuine thanks and walked to the car. Brick slowly strolled a few steps after and watch he walk away.

At the door, Jenny walked out with McQueen following right behind her. "You forgetting something?" He called after her. She flipped around to find what she missed and instead found McQueen leaning on the door frame, inches from her face. She almost ran into him, putting her hands on his torso to brace herself and taking them off like touching a hot stove. "You didn't say goodbye."

She looked into his eyes which were lust filled and excited. "Goodbye." She said simply, turning around and stepping down the porch.

"Come on now. You know that ain't what I wanted."

She smiled and took a few steps back towards him, now standing just centimeters from him. He looked to her lips, chest, and back to her eyes, now even more excited. "You want me don't you?" He said, shifting his feet anxiously. Her blue eyes that, until now, looked so innocent suddenly became suggestive as she gently lifted her hand and ran her fingers slowly from his chest down to the top of his pants. He took in a breath and licked his lips with a smile as her fingers fell. She gave a slightly crooked smile back, turned around and walked down to the car. About half way through the lawn, he yelled out, stunned, "I ain't done talking to you!"

Her blonde, messily curled hair swung around her neck as she turned and continued to walk backwards. McQueen's face looked disappointed and offended that she left him. "If you want to talk to me so bad, Brick got my sister's number!" She called back to him, then jogged to the car.

"A lot of fucking good that shit does." He muttered, watching her get in the car and begin to drive off.

"She wants you to call through that phone, dipshit!" Brick said, throwing a chunk of grass at him as he walked to the door and went inside.

"Oh." He said simply and closed the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 2

2

The boys were on the road within the next few hours of that same day. For once, the drive was oddly quiet. There was little idiotic jabbering from McQueen and little responses from his brothers. All of them were wondering about the job that they just blindly took. Saving people really wasn't what they were used to, or even what they ever wanted to do. Brick honestly couldn't think of the exact reason why he agreed to it in the first place. But he shoved the thoughts and questions out of his mind for now and thought of it as just a road trip with a little action. "We'll be in Quitman by midnight. I'm gonna drive this till I can't drive no more." Brick said, decidedly.

"Can u believe they went ahead and paid us five grand up front?" McQueen said after a few seconds. He had obviously been trying to figure it out for a while.

"I know right?" He said, thinking how lucky they got with the early payment.

"I mean u think they'd have some trust issues right?" McQueen said, trying not to sound concerned. "Hey each to his own…"

"To each their own man, to each their own." Brick agreed and ignored his brother's mistake. McQueen nodded when Brick said what he meant to say, and waited a few seconds before asking his next question.

"Now, I know we got an address to Newton, but shouldn't they've given us a picture of the kid or something."

"How many kids you reckon they got up there? I mean they ain't running a daycare center."

"Okay." His brother made a good point. "What if we get there and, and Rob's a baby?" He stuttered, getting ahead of his own thoughts.

"Well, I mean, if he's a baby then I reckon they got baby junk up there."

"Oh that's smart."

"I mean it's not like they riding around with a baby in a shoe box or nothing. I mean come on, besides that, them scars didn't look too fresh on their bellies."

"You're right. You're right." He said trailing off. "You're right." He looked around out the windows, thinking for a few seconds. He spit his tobacco into the water bottle in his hand and cleaned his lips. "What if there's more than one kid?"

"Why you asking me so many god damn questions man?" Brick suddenly yelled at him.

"I just wanna know…" He started, meekly.

"We already went over this!" He continued to yell. "What! What do you wanna know?" He waited impatiently for an answer. "What do you wanna know?"

"I just wanna know which is Rob?" He said quietly, rubbing his ear and putting his hands up in explanation.

"What, cause I'm gonna say which ones rob? How 'bout that? How 'bout that? I'm gonna say, you know what, I don't want Kevin! I don't want Michael! No, I don't want Steven! If there's a bunch of fucking kids around I'm gonna say, I want Rob! How 'bout that? Fucking hell, man. It's a simple smash n' grab. We smash whatever's in front of us and we take Rob." He finished and spat out the window. "Damn. Plain and simple."

Lincoln smacked his brother's arm.

"What! Sorry Lincoln."

"I don't know why you have to yell." McQueen muttered in the background.

"You're faggot-y brother won't shut up."

"I'm inquisitive and you know that!" McQueen attempted to defend himself.

Brick laughed. "Where'd you learn that word? Inquisitive. Where the fuck'd you pick that'n up? Huh?" He smacked him upside the head.

"It's in my lexicon, man." He stuttered, poking at his brain with a grin.

"Jackass." Brick said, continuing to make fun.

"I had it up here. There's a lot you don't know 'bout me."

"Hey, do you need a potty break?" He asked, teasing his baby brother.

"How many books you read motherfucker?"

They continued like this for the next few miles and eventually Lincoln was able to ignore it and fall asleep. The hours passed slowly for Brick. McQueen had fallen asleep about halfway through rest of the drive. He was alone with his thoughts, the road, and the darkness of the sky. Everything was dark except for the little area of the road that his headlights illuminated. He loved that about the country. It was peaceful; which, unfortunately, wasn't very good for his energy at one in the morning. He never allowed himself to be fully at ease anywhere else. But even now, there was just too much on his mind to relax. He kept thinking of Hayden and her sister. This whole event was just so strange. It wasn't the event that stayed on his mind though. He wasn't even thinking in solid sentences. It was thoughts, ideas, and images. It made him feel odd. He didn't like it. So he focused on finding the first motel that came up and stopping. Sleep would distract him.

McQueen woke up from the stop of the car, looked around and yawned. "Where are we?"

"We're in Hickory." Brick yawned with a guess.

"What time is it?"

"Four." He said with another yawn.

McQueen sighed, surprise of how late it was and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey." Brick said, pointing out the window. An attractive Mexican woman walked out of a room and to the back of her truck.

"Hm." McQueen observed. "I guess there's a little candy in that piñata." He said with a mischievous giggle.

Brick started to lazily warble the melody to La Cucaracha as the both of them got out of the car.

McQueen motioned to him and then to their brother, who was still out cold in the back seat. "Shh." He put his finger to his lips. In sync, they slammed their doors as hard as they could and Lincoln jolted up and awake. The two giggled as they continued to walk into the lobby, while Lincoln squinted his eyes shut and simply laid back down. Minutes later, they came back, woke Lincoln up, and went to their room. All of them almost instantly falling asleep.

The next morning McQueen, who was down in the lobby, came through the door with small bags of food. "Got some free shit." He announced, excitedly and set them down on the bed stand.

Brick's phone suddenly rang and he stopped the dips he was doing on the arms of the chair to check who it was. Both brothers stopped what they were doing and watched.

"Who that?" McQueen asked.

"Fuck." Brick said at the phone number. "Who you think?" He showed McQueen.

"Don't answer that shit, man." He said, throwing his arm across his chest. Suddenly he became more serious and leaned in to Brick. "Don't answer it. Don't you…"

He answered it. "Hey." He said, exasperatedly.

"Hey?" A deep voice questioned. "Don't 'hey' me. The hell are you?"

"Mississippi."

"Mississippi? Well, what in the Sam Hill could you possibly have to do in Mississippi?"

"Took a job out here."

"Oh, oh, you took a job." The man on the other line said sarcastically. "Well, excuse me. I forgot you guys were freelance artists. So, mister Brick, what job did you take?"

"It's not a big deal, man. It's just a little gig out here. We can handle it."

"Oh you gonna handle it like you handled me yesterday?"

In the background, McQueen was gesturing to hang up. Brick couldn't. Millard was the only who could tell them what to do and they would follow blindly. Lincoln and McQueen followed Brick, and Brick followed Millard.

"It's bad enough you can't check a damn address, but you gotta lay them pork chops out in my backyard?" He continued to lecture. Brick pushed McQueen's head away to quit distracting him, throwing him back onto the bed.

"We put in our time." He muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." He said, continuing childishly.

"You watch your mouth, son. This ain't a joke. This little misstep is gonna be a pain for me, but you may have just stuck your dick in a hornet's nest."

"What're you talking about? What do you mean?"

"I got some jackleg deputy assigned to me from Chicago, up my ass, looking to make a name for locking up you idiots. The last thing I need is for you dumb shits to draw more unneeded attention. I mean it, Brick. I better not hear shit about your little Mississippi job. Keep your ass off the grid. Don't call my house. Write this number down and, for the love of god, get rid of that damn cell phone."

McQueen was being an idiot again on the bed beside him, distracting him. Brick somewhat lightly elbowed him in the face. "Yes, sir." He was able to continue.

"Damn well better. You mess around and fuck up my pension, that's your ass." With that Millard hung up.

"Give me that." Brick grabbed the brochure McQueen was studying out of his hands and wrote down the number.

"Man." McQueen whined in response to his brother's aggression. "Don't take it out on me 'cause you got your ass chewed." He walked over to Lincoln and then turned back to Brick, suddenly remembering. "Hey, lemme see that phone." He said, reaching for it on the desk.

Brick quickly grabbed it before McQueen could. "What do you want it for?" Brick tried to control his temper.

"Nothing."

Lincoln typed on his pad. "Liar."

"I ain't a liar!" McQueen said in offense. "Just give me the phone."

"Why?" Brick questioned, slightly amused that his brother would even ask for it. "Why d'you need it? Huh? What're you gonna use it for?"

"I'm not using it for nothing." He continued to defend, beginning to whine again.

"Well, then you don't need it." Brick said simply.

"Come on, man." He complained, grabbing for it again.

"It ain't your phone, jackass." He said, taking the phone out of reach.

"Give me the fucking phone, motherfucker." McQueen pounced on his brother.

"You ain't gonna be bugging them girls." They continued to wrestle for the phone, yelling and hitting like children.

"I'm not! Come on, man."

"Stop it." Brick muttered, finally pushing him off. "Millard doesn't even want us to have this phone. We can't be making anymore phone calls than we need to."

"Fine." He said, crumpling a piece of paper and throwing it at him.

"We got work to do." Brick said, changing the subject before he stressed himself even more.

McQueen's mood quickly changed to excitement. "I'll get my badge."

"Nah, I figured we'd do the ol' Roosevelt Slammer."

Lincoln quickly grabbed his pad and tried to type. "Fuck yeah! Woo!" McQueen yelled and smacked the pad out of his hands. "Dibs, bitch!"

Lincoln punched him as he ran out the door and raced to the driver's seat.

"Dumbass." Brick muttered as he grabbed the few things that were brought in and followed McQueen to the car. The insult cheered Lincoln up a little.

McQueen's enthusiasm never failed to lighten the mood. That's probably the thing Brick liked most about him, though he would never admit anything close to it. McQueen just had a way about him that could kill almost any downer. Perhaps it was his innocent nature, despite everything they do and the type of men they were. Or maybe it was just how much of an idiot he was. Brick didn't care. He was just glad he could do that without even trying.

McQueen proudly started the engine and they continued the drive to Newton. They were going to kill Carlos and everyone in their way, get Rob, and get the rest of that money. Almost more importantly, they were doing it the loud way that would piss off Millard if he ever found out.


	4. Chapter 3

3

Hayden and Jenny parked their car outside the Oodie brothers' house. "This is weird." Hayden stated as they got out of the car.

"Why?"

She laughed. "Why is it weird that we're crashing at their house, while they're not there, without them knowing?" She clarified.

"Even you, miss logic, said it'd be smart." Jenny walked up to the front door of their shack like house. Hayden stuttered to think of a response to verify her hesitance and rubbed her temple. "It's in the middle of nowhere." Jenny began to list as she examined the area for a key. "We don't have anywhere else. Free food and bed, hopefully. Air conditioning."

"Well I doubt it's not just going to be open. How do you suggest…"

Jenny took a leap of faith and tried to turn the knob and open the door. It swung open with ease.

"They left it open?" Hayden said in shock. Jenny shrugged indifferently and walked in.

Hayden sighed and followed. True, this was the best place to hide from Carlos, because god knows, if the Oodie brothers make just one mistake, he will know who to come after and about where to go to find them. Sure, the old place could have worked, but it was too out in the open and too obvious. Oddly enough, this was the safest place for them to be staying. She was sure they wouldn't be too happy about the two of them staying in their private space, especially without permission, but she figured their safety was a bit more important. Besides if they really didn't want anyone there, they would have at least locked the door.

The inside of the house couldn't be more obvious that men inhabited it. The rooms were bare of decoration and messy with trash, clothes, and other random items. It bothered Hayden, but she resisted the urge to clean and tidy.

Once into the living room where they had all met, both women set the little things they had by the edge of the couch and sat down across from each other. They sat there in silence, waiting for the awkwardness of the whole situation to pass. Hayden pulled one of her books out of her bag and contently started reading, while Jenny began to twirl her thumbs around each other. She tapped her foot and looked around the room. The walls and furniture were colored with dark browns, oranges, and yellows. It was an old house with old furniture. She looked back to the hallway they walked through. To the right was the kitchen and one more room. To her direct left was at room with a dark tarp hanging down for a door. Jenny was curious.

She eyed the room and let out a definite sigh. Quickly, she got up to explore. The tarp was too tempting to not find out what was behind it.

"What are you doing?" Hayden asked, suspicious.

"Nothing." She responded, already in the room and struggling to untangle herself from the tarp. The room was pitch black aside from the little rays of light that bled through the cracks of the tarp and doorframe. She rubbed her hand against the wall until she found a light switch. The dim bulb that turned on didn't do much for lighting. To her surprise, this room was actually fairly tidy. A few magazines on the desk beside the bed and a few items of clothing on the floor. It's not what she expected to say the least; and quite frankly not what she was hoping for. There didn't appear to be any hidden secrets in this room. Never the less, she strolled over to the bed in attempts to be nonchalant, and tested the softness and pressure of the mattress with her hand. It was almost as hard as wood. She reflexively took her hand away, displeased. It was time to move on to a different room.

"You shouldn't be snooping." Hayden said without looking away from her book as Jenny came out of the room.

"I'm not." She said, royally in pretense and continued on idly into the kitchen and to the room that was almost hidden around the corner.

"Oh yeah, then what do you call exactly what you're doing right now?" She said with an eyebrow raise and followed her sister. She had a feeling she should be keeping an eye on her. She watched as Jenny causally rummaged through this room.

"It's exploring, so I don't get lost looking for something."

"I don't think you can get lost in a house this size."

Jenny ignored her. This room was a lot messier than the last. There were papers spread out all over the desks and more clothes on the ground. There was a pile of guns leaned against the wall in the corner. Once again, Jenny gently tested the bed. She pressed harder a second time. It was definitely much softer than the other bed. She sat down as a final test.

"What are you doing?" Hayden asked again.

"Figuring out where I'm going to sleep."

Hayden rolled her eyes and pleaded. "Don't sleep in their beds."

"I'm not going to sleep in all of their beds. I'm only going to sleep in one of their beds."

"You know what I mean." She scolded.

"Where do you suppose we sleep then?"

"I'm going to sleep on the couch." She clarified.

"Suit yourself." Jenny said, getting off of the bed and the top drawer of the dresser. "I'm going to guess this is Brick's room." She said pulling out a box of cigarettes.

"Snoop."

Jenny stuck her tongue out and went to the last room in the hallway. This room was exponentially messier than both of the others put together. She had to step on clothes and mainly food trash to walk through the room. Things were piled on top of other things covering any hard surface. There were posters hanging from the wall and magazines randomly sprawled around the room; gun magazines, car magazines, porn magazines, etc. This was definitely McQueen's room. She guessed that no one else would blatantly leave those kinds of magazines out in the open; which meant that the first room must have been Lincoln's.

Eagerly she went to his bed and put both hands down. She let out a big sigh and jumped on top of the bed to lie down. It felt like a cloud. She quickly kicked off her shoes and bundled herself under the covers for just a moment. She decided. This was where she was sleeping, but without blankets. The heat made her begin to sweat and she pushed and kicked the covers off of her as fast as she could and sat up. She looked around the room for a few more seconds. Really nothing in there came as a surprise.

While Jenny continued to invade the brothers' privacy, Hayden resisted the urge to do the same herself. She stood by Brick's door, glancing in every few seconds and finally sighing as she gave in and went into his room. To her surprise, she found a book on his bedside desk. She did peg any of them to be readers, so a book was a very pleasant discovery and shock. It was even a good book. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She was curious what prompted him to own that. Carefully, she put the book back where it was and gently brushed her fingers over the splayed out papers and adjusted one specifically to get a better look. It was a newspaper clipping of an article. The picture was of three little boys and the Sheriff walking out of an empty house with the article title: "Officer Henry Millard escorts Oodie children from crime scene after raid on Klan leader". They were orphans, she assumed. Just like them.

She suddenly heard Jenny clearing her throat, startling her. Hayden jumped and took her hand away from the paper quicker than touching a hot stove. Jenny lowered her head and raised an eyebrow at her. "Snoop." She teased, taking a long judgmental step back to the kitchen, where she was headed in the first place. Hayden awkwardly moved the paper back to the position it was originally in, embarrassed that her sister caught her giving in to her curiosity.

Jenny opened the fridge in search of food to find an alarming smell wafting out from inside. "Oh god!" She chocked, covering her nose with her arm.

"Should I be scared?" Hayden asked, coming out of Brick's room.

"Ugh, I don't know yet." She released her nose from her arm and held her breath, searching through the piles of half-wrapped, half-eaten food to find the source of the stench. As she opened a lower drawer the smell flooded out much stronger than a few seconds ago. "You wanna get some gloves or something? Just to be on the safe side. I wouldn't surprise me if there's something alive in here." She laughed slightly.

Hayden scrambled to find anything. The counters were cluttered and of course they didn't have actual gloves anywhere. She grabbed the dish towel that was hanging by the sink and prepared herself.

"Found it." Jenny grunted in disgust. She pulled out a paper plate with a half-eaten sandwich.

"God, what is that?"

"I think it used to be chicken." She cringed, giving it to Hayden. "I saw a trash can outside."

The two girls spent the rest of the day and night exploring the house and secretly snooping around the boys' things, trying to find some way to entertain themselves. It didn't take them much longer to find the alcohol supply, which ended up occupying quite a bit of their time afterwards. Hayden respectfully chose to sleep on the couch, just as she had planned, while Jenny crashed on McQueen's mass of sheets and pillows and clothes.


	5. Chapter 4

4

Lincoln and Brick waited around the two back corners of the house in silence with their guns loaded and ready to fire. In the distance, hidden in the trees, McQueen put the car in reverse and stepped on the gas as hard as he could. They heard the engine's acceleration become louder and louder as the car got closer to the house. McQueen widely grinned with his mouth guard securely set and his helmet on. He watched as he crashed through the wall of the house, right into the living room and whipped his head forward and back onto the steering wheel from the impact. At that cue, Lincoln entered, stepping over the rubble and shooting multiple holes in one each time, from his military rifle that McQueen borrowed from his short time of being a G.I.

"You alright?" Brick yelled over the noise as he rushed in and crouched by the driver's window.

"Helmet ain't work for shit." McQueen said, trying to look at the blood from his forehead that was dripping between his eyes.

"I told you." He said, bringing his gun up to shoot a guy on the second floor. "Alright, you go east, I go west."

McQueen quickly decided which way was east after he saw his brother go shooting his shotgun off one way. He sloppily combat-glided to his next barrier, shooting at Carlos's men sporadically until he was behind the other side of the car. Quickly, he stood up and aimed both pistols in front of him, shooting back and forth between the first and second floor as he walked backwards down the hallway and flipped around the corner. He reflexively flipped back when he saw a door down the hallway suddenly close. It was clear enough for him to calm himself and reload. "Plain and simple. Smash and grab." He motivated himself. He took a couple deep breaths in preparation when bullets unexpectedly began hitting into the wall behind him, making his decision to go after the closed door for him. He turned the corner and shot at the door, then kicked it open. He leaned back against the open door from the momentum and saw a woman with bullet wounds in her chest lying on the floor. She obviously had not been a threat even before getting shot. "Oh shit. My bad, lady. You okay?" McQueen said, nudging her with his gun and realizing what he did. "My defense, you do work for an asshole." He stepped over the body and looked up. To his surprise he saw a boy in a wheelchair staring back at him. He couldn't quite tell but the kid looked scared, which would make sense if he had taken the time to think about it. The noise had died down and McQueen took a few awkward steps towards the boy to get a better look at him. He jumped at the sound of one last gun shot in the other room and refocused on the boy in the wheelchair. He was wearing a shirt that had a nametag on it, saying "Rob". McQueen looked back up at him to double check. "You Rob?" He said in a cautious voice, tilting his head a little. The boy seemed to take in a breath and attempt to position himself to show his name a little more. His eyes were still wide with fear. McQueen was stunned by the kid's behavior and awkwardly turned to holler for his brother. He swung his head back to look to Rob. "God Damn." He muttered in shock. He couldn't quite figure it out but he knew that something was up with this kid. "Brick!" He impatiently hollered again with a desperate screech.

A few seconds later, Brick came in the room to see what all the hollering was about and saw Rob. He shifted realizing what was wrong with him and sighed a little in sympathy. "Come on, grab the kid, let's go." He said, trying to sound indifferent.

McQueen stuttered in protest and hesitation, but walked over to Rob, grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, and pushed him out the door, following Brick to the car.

As they left the remnants of Carlos's, McQueen sat backwards in the front seat to face Rob. He wiped the remaining blood off his forehead and tucked his hair behind his ear while he stared at him, trying to figure him out. He tilted his head in attempts to get his attention. "Carlos man make you cripple?" He asked bluntly. Rob stared down in his lap.

"Hi. Buddy." Lincoln typed in attempts to put him at ease and befriend him.

Brick quickly glanced off the road and to them. "I don't think he can talk." He said quietly to his brothers. Rob looked up and back down.

"Well, ain't this some shit, man." McQueen stated.

"What?"

"Well, he's all, you know…" He started to put his wrists to his chest and blink unnaturally.

Brick punched his arm. "Don't do that shit." He said sternly.

"What?"

"Cause you're being mean. He can't help it."

McQueen opened his hand and slowly turned his head back in defense, confused at what he did wrong.

"Y'okay?" Brick asked Rob. "You hurt? You okay?" He trailed off, remembering that he wouldn't get an answer. Rob blinked a few times and looked slightly over his way. "He can understand us." He said to McQueen.

McQueen stared at him, confused. "How the hell'd you get 'I'm okay' from that?"

"Ay, look bud we ain't gonna hurt you, alright? Hayden sent us. You know Hayden and Jenny? Huh?" Brick egged him on cheerfully.

Rob slowly looked fully up at him.

"Yeah! There he goes! See he understands us just fine." He continued enthusiastically.

"Once again, how the hell you know what he's saying?" McQueen said looking back at his brother again. "You the 'tard whisperer?" He questioned.

"Say that again I'm gonna kill you." Brick threatened quietly.

"I'm not making fun." He stuttered defensively.

"Say it again."

"I'm just saying."

"You are making fun of him."

"I'm not making fun. I'm just saying." McQueen looked at Rob again. "Just a little weird that they didn't mention the poor little fella's all buggered up, you know?"

"Don't matter. Look, they sent us to get Rob. We got Rob. Alright?" Brick redirected his attention to Rob again. "You good buddy?" Rob looked at him and blinked a few times. He took it as good enough.

McQueen glanced at his brother and muttered, "I wasn't being mean."

"You were being mean, you're making fun of him." Brick argued, getting irritated.

Also frustrated, McQueen climbed back around to face front.

"Bless his heart." Brick continued, more softly. "It ain't, he ain't got no control over that."

They both stared back to the road.

McQueen swung his head back to his brother, suddenly thinking of something funny. "Damn good thing he wasn't in the living room." He smiled. Brick turned his head away, trying desperately not to laugh. McQueen saw it and turned back to the road, proud. "I'm just saying."

The rest of drive was mostly quiet. Every once in a while Lincoln would try to get Rob's attention and continue to befriend him. Progress was going slowly though. McQueen fell asleep, like usual. Brick had to admit, they were usually pretty exhausted after every job. He was a little jealous of McQueen for being able to sleep anywhere anytime. But the more Brick thought about that, the more irritated he got. Naturally, his mind went to Rob. He understood why they probably didn't tell them about his condition. He knew he probably would have taken more convincing to accept the job if they had told them. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to give them shit about it when he calls her though. He drove for a while longer until they got to a gas station where they could pull over, get some quick food, and make that call.


End file.
